Three in One

Any claim to understand the Trinity is an expression either of ignorance or arrogance. It's one of those great mysteries that we will someday come to terms with, once Christ returns. However, there is an infinite amount to learn even now about the nature of these three distinct persons with different roles who relate to each other as the one and only God. I gained new insight this morning at church.

Darren talked about how God the Father was the star attraction from Creation to the time of the prophets. Eventually, the Jews demanded a king to rule them because everyone else had one. When God reminded them that He was their King the Jewish people whined their way into getting a flawed, earthly king, which ended up being a poor substitute, though God invariably brought all together for good through this setup. 

When Jesus came to earth, He took over the lead role from the Father. Interestingly, the Pharisees and other religious "experts" dedicated to observing the Law rejected and despised Jesus. God revealed through prophets that He would one day come to earth, fully God and fully man, to reconcile people to Himself and fulfill the Law. Yet for some reason, the Pharisees rejected him. They got so hung up on God the Father, that they were blind to the Son who was right there in their midst. How thick can you get? Well, let's see. They only ended up condemning the SAVIOR OF THE WORLD to torment and death. That's pretty thick if you ask me. But guess what?

In this age, we are no better, because guess who is the star of the show now? The Holy Spirit--the person of the Trinity that gets the least attention. Have we acknowledged His power and presence in our life day-by-day? Do we truly understand that He is never MIA on this battle-scarred earth? Or are we turning a blind eye and bemoaning that Jesus abandoned us and gave us this sometimes-creepy, mostly-mediocre  "entity" as substitute?

Jesus insists that it is better that the Holy Spirit was sent instead of Jesus staying on the earth.

But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ about sin, because people do not believe in me; ¹⁰ about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹ and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³ But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.  

- John 16:7-13

Do we really want to let this awesome promise and power get trampled beneath our feet as we struggle blindly in our faith? We say the Holy Spirit is a mystery, but all we have to do is look at God the Father and Jesus Christ and realize that the Spirit is the same God. He has the same characteristics of our resurrected Savior, but He is not limited by the constraints of human form. 

Do we not trust our King even now? We have the Word of God, living and active, testifying to us that the Trinity is still at work. He has given us a history of the mistakes people have made over and over and over, holding on to an age that is past instead of living in the present: the Jews clinging to earthly substitutes, Pharisees clinging to the Law, and now Christians clinging to Jesus, who was and is God and also man. Yes, yes, yes, cling to Jesus, by all means!

But if we don't understand how God is working in the time in which we live, we cannot join Him in it! And God is working through the Holy Spirit right now so hadn't we better pay attention to Him so that we can do effective kingdom-building work?